So, why the 6.6in Mega? Samsung says it is meant to be an "ideal hybrid handset for those who want to experience smartphone portability with the immersive experience of a tablet."

I liked the Mega when I was using as just that: A tablet. In those instances, it didn't seem so cumbersome. I read books and watched videos on it before bed, while getting a haircut and while sitting at a cafe. I checked email on it, and browsed through Twitter, Facebook and Instagram feeds. Basically, I liked it when I used it as I would my iPad mini or Kindle Fire tablet, which measure 7.9in and 7.0in, respectively.

Let's say the Mega hybrid does appeal to you as a smartphone. It's still pretty midrange, lacking some of the key features of its Note sibling.

Goode liked the Note 2. The Mega? " I will be somewhat relieved when the flatbed truck arrives next week to pick it up and transport it back to Samsung."

Nokia also revealed that Here is working with Mercedes-Benz on "smart maps" — initially for merely connected cars, but ultimately for autonomous vehicles.

This will cover much of the same territory that Google is traversing in its own quest to build a self-driving car, although – from Nokia's perspective at least – with a more limited scope. While Google tests its vehicles in California, Here and Mercedes-Benz have started off by building a 3D map of the route taken by the first ever automobile, the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, between Mannheim and Pforzheim in southern Germany.

Perhaps Nokia keeping HERE was a smart move after all. Self-driving cars have the potential to be a huge business, and the one essential element is great maps.

These annual iPhone unveilings have become a sort of Creative Destruction Day in Silicon Valley. Remember all those companies that were making nifty little digital video recorders? There aren't many of them left, after Apple added video recording to the iPhone in 2008. And with every even slightly improved iPhone that adds features or services offered by others, Apple has tightened the screws on a long list of companies, including other smartphone makers like Nokia and BlackBerry and gaming companies like Nintendo.

the potential infiltration of Google, in particular, is a controversial development, and the Internet giant will no doubt be demanding answers from the US government.

(Google declined a request for comment. James Clapper, the Director of National Intelligence, has put out a statement not directly addressing any of the latest revelations but saying that the United States "collects foreign intelligence—just as many other governments do—to enhance the security of our citizens and protect our interests and those of our allies around the world.")

If you look at the number buttons on a phone - smart, cell, landline, what have you - those number buttons will feature, almost inevitably, a uniform layout. Ten digits, laid out on a three-by-three grid, with the tenth tacked on on the bottom. The numbers ascending from left to right, and from top to bottom.

This layout is so standardized that we think about it as almost inevitable. But the layout was, in the 1950s, the result of a good deal of strategizing and testing on the part of the people of Bell Labs.

See the diagram: it's amazing what was considered. They also identified those with lower error rates, and those where it was quicker to key the number.

Amazon.com said on Sunday it had no plans to offer a phone of its own in 2013 and said any such future phone would be sold, not given away.

The statement, from an Amazon spokesman, refutes a report from website JessicaLessin.com on Friday that the Seattle company has been exploring options to offer a smartphone free of cost.

"We have no plans to offer a phone this year," said the spokesman in an email on Sunday. "If we were to launch a phone in the future, it would not be free." It is the first time Amazon has responded in detail to reports about developing a smartphone.

It rebutted it, not refuted it. One refutes a proof (showing it to be false through evidence); one rebuts a claim. Without letting us into Amazon's labs, this can't be a refutation.

When quizzed on Microsoft's moribund operating system, Australian marketing chief Nick Reynolds said that Intel's Haswell has eliminated the choice between long battery life and good performance. Since, consequently, users can run full-fat Windows 8 and get a full day of use from a single charge, there's not much call for a low-power version.

Is Windows RT going to be one of the biggest blind alleys ever in software?